1957 Chevy Pickup - Magnum Opus - Retro-Flect

A Tour-de-Force '57 Chevy

The general population tends to include exclamation points in their various scribblings in a rather fickle manner. Many choose to tack on one (or two or three) to emphasize their enthusiasm for everything from their liquid lunch to the Olsen twins turning 18. Most of the time, however, the perky vertical points are unwarranted. In the case of Tony Goldston, the tech sheet for his '57 Chevy was peppered with exclamation points, and, well, we can't really take issue with that: This Asheboro, North Carolina, resident has much to be excited about.

Tony says he got into the hobby of building trucks about seven years ago, when his father gave Tony's son Justin a '49 Chevy to build - a generous gesture indeed. Tony and his kin whipped that one into shape, but once done, his tools and garage had this empty feeling - and the only way to fill the void was to start another project.

Then, on one fateful day, Tony's guinea pig arrived in the form of this '57 Chevy. Bought from the original owner, Tony says they had to pump up the tires to get it on the trailer, and by the time they got it home, the tires were flat again. It was clearly the hour to breathe life - not to mention, air - into the Chevy once again.

Tony's Sherwood Green '57 Chevy pickup is an item any budding Robin Hood would fancy stealing. The truck is built on a custom chassis with extensive help from Michael's Rod shop. The custom frame is fully boxed and shortened 8 inches. The brake lines run through the boxed framerails, and Air Ride Technologies air springs and supporting suspension components were installed. The Chevy sports a Moser 9-inch Ford with a 3.73-geared rearend with '76 Continental rear disc brakes. Tony fitted the nose with Zig spindles and disc brakes as well as shocks (front and rear). He also installed a power-assisted rack-and-pinion and a chrome ididit steering column.

With the frame rejuvenated and steerable, the next implementation was rolling stock. After checking ride height and body clearance with the classic truck laid out on its rocker panels, Tony decided on a set of Boyd Coddington wheels. He filled the front wheelwells with 255/45R18 rubber on 18x8-inch aluminum Coddington rounds. The rear wheelwells received 245/45 tread clad in 20x10-inch Coddingtons.

To power the art-on-wheels, Tony bolted an '02 Corvette LS1 to an '01 4l60E transmission and installed it between the framerails. He left the engine stock, but he styled it with a Street & Performance air cleaner, valve covers, and headers. Tommy Garner is credited with the engine and tranny work. Speaking of the transmission, the builder chose a Lokar shifter and a Street & Performance trans cooler - polished, naturally.

The body of the four-wheeled artifact was extensively customized, with all the work done in metal - this was not a plastic-styling exercise. Tony had Kenny Thompson work the metal on all the custom bodywork. He blended the front bumper, fabbed up the suicide doors, extended the rear fenders 2-1/2 inches, and built a metal roll pan, as well as designed and built the custom bed. He also worked in the '59 Caddy taillights in the rear fender.

Underscoring the aesthetic value of this custom is the artful paintwork. To complement the extensive metalwork, Michael Neighbors squirted the House of Kolor Sherwood Green Pearl on the body before Jim Norris got busy with the airbrush and laid out a Purple Passion, Tangelo Pearl, and Silver graphic treatment.

In the case of this Chevy, beauty is not only skin deep, as the interior was also thoroughly reworked to complement its sexy skin. The original dash was cut out and reshaped by the crew at Michael's Rod Shop to fit the air pressure gauges, array of Dakota Digital gauges, as well as the A/C vents and pedals. Also installed was a custom console to house the mobile entertainment system.

After the tech goodies were put in their final resting places, Wayne Bowers started work on the upholstery, adding a few other custom touches. He went so far as to build some custom seats for the project before anointing the interior with leather upholstery. Buster Leonard and Tommy Garner completed the wiring - no small feat to get the Vette motor and electronically controlled transmission to work with the truck, not to mention wiring up the Alpine and Infinity speakers and 250-watt Pioneer DVD/TV mobile entertainment system. Tony doesn't believe in half measures, so he had Vintage Glass windows, with medium tint inside the glass, installed throughout.

As with many of our more spiritual builders, firstly among the various confidantes Tony wants to thanks is "God!" (emphasis duly noted on the tech sheet). Whether God had a hand in helping the '57 win the 2004 Run to the Sun "Truck of the Year" award remains to be seen. Nonetheless, God would be reluctant to gripe about Tony's excessive exclamatory usage: This show-only piece of four-wheeled art deserves all the enthusiasm in the world!